


breathe again

by stilinscry



Series: catboy!chenle drabbles [3]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Cat/Human Hybrids, M/M, Scent Marking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 08:48:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10486911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stilinscry/pseuds/stilinscry
Summary: chenle and donghyuck are oblivous and na jaemin knows all





	

**Author's Note:**

> \- i didn't wanna list them all but every girl mentioned is an sm rookie !! pls support our girlies~~

If you asked him Chenle would vehemently deny the possibility that he was possessive in any sense of the word. He’d grown up in a group home with 15 other hybrids and in that situation you learn not to get too attached; both to possessions and people. It had been ingrained into him from a very young age that sharing was good and sharing was necessary and Chenle knew that it made sense. This sense fell to pieces when Lee Donghyuck came into the situation.

The two of them met when Chenle was 7 and Donghyuck was 8 and Chenle had just transferred to their school. He remembers standing at the front of the classroom, his ears pressed flat against his head and his tail curled defensively around his leg as he introduced himself, practically blurting out his name and where he was from all in one in broken Korean. He knew that hybrids still weren’t that common in public schools and he kept his head ducked, watching his feet as he walked to the one free seat in the middle of the class.

The other kids stared at him, it was inevitable he knew but that thought didn’t help to quell his worries that nobody would want to be friends with someone weird like him. It wasn’t until halfway through their first class that someone tapped on his shoulder and Chenle looked up from his desk to find a hand holding a note in front of his face. The boy holding it had smiled at him and it was warm and friendly and Chenle smiled back hesitantly before quickly taking the note and turning back to his own desk.

He was surprised to find that the note was written in Chinese instead of Korean and even though the hand writing was a bit rough Chenle still felt his face warming up because the boy had put this much effort in just so Chenle might be able to understand a bit more.

_‘hey chenle_

_i know it’s gotta be hard being new so i’ll be your friend if you want !! you can sit with me at break time and i’ll even share my snack~~_

_lee donghyuck :)’_

Chenle remembers how he’d scrambled to get a pen from his rucsac so he could write a scruffy _‘yes please’_ at the bottom of the note before sliding it back onto Donghyuck’s desk and the wide grin he’d received from the elder boy in response had made his whole body feel warm. Since that monumental day the pair have been practically inseparable, attending both the same middle school and high school just so they could stay close to each other. They both had other friends too: Donghyuck had Mark and Hina and Chenle had Renjun and Yiyang, but the majority of the time they were together. It was just a given.

They’re in their last year of high school when someone finally brings up Chenle’s possessiveness over Donghyuck and the realisation comes like a slap to the face. He’s sat at the lunch table with their group of friends, happily nuzzling against Donghyuck’s side as he watches Hyorin and Ning Ning bicker about something that had happened in their Biology class when Jaemin calls him out.

“Chenle, is it really necessary for you to be wrapped round Donghyuck like that? Some of us are trying to eat you know.” The tone of his voice is jovial but there’s an underlying seriousness to his question that has Chenle pulling away from Donghyuck like he’s been burned.

“Hey if he wants to be cuddly, leave him be,” Mark says, pushing at Jaemin’s shoulder but the other just laughs in response and smiles knowingly at Chenle before turning back to Mark.

“Do you really not see what he’s doing, hyung? He’s scenting our Donghyuckie, making sure that he smells like him to scare away any other hybrids. It’s glaringly obvious.” And it is, yet Chenle only now realises that that’s what he’s been doing all this time. “I knew that hybrids were known for their possessive behaviour but I honestly didn’t know it applied to people they aren’t even dating.” There’s a smug smile spread across Jaemin’s face and suddenly Chenle feels like he’s suffocating. The air in the canteen is thick and there are too many pairs of eyes on him and he doesn’t look back as he runs from the table, not even when Donghyuck calls out his name.

He ends up in the disused toilets at the back end of the school, sat on the counter with his legs drawn up to his chest as Jaemin’s words float through his mind. Now that it’s been pointed out to him it’s grossly obvious how possessive he’s been over Donghyuck. He’s always touching the elder boy somehow whether he’s squeezing their hands together or wrapping an arm round Donghyuck’s waist or clinging to his back begging for a piggy back. As a hybrid he lets off pheromones naturally, pheromones that are extremely potent to other hybrids and are great at conveying messages between the species. All these years he’s been snuggling up to Donghyuck, he’s been subconsciously rubbing his scent all over the elder boy and Chenle doesn’t think he’s ever been so embarrassed about anything in his entire life.

His head drops down onto his knees as he thinks about what this all means and a thought pops up in his head that Chenle’s desperately been trying to push away for months. He likes Donghyuck. As in more than friends. It’s nothing new but that doesn’t mean Chenle is even close to being ready to accept that he has feelings for his best friend. Maybe another day, but not now.

He tries to push the thought out of his head, he really does, but his mind flits between thinking about how soft Donghyuck’s hands feel in his to how soft Donghyuck’s lips would feel against his and that’s a steady slope that Chenle does not want to go down. The bell for class rings and he pushes himself down off the counter, begrudgingly picking his bag up from the floor before leaving the bathroom. What he doesn’t expect is to find Donghyuck sat on the floor just next to the door, clearly waiting for him.

Donghyuck perks up when he hears the door creak open and he smiles up nervously at Chenle, scratching the back of his neck as he pushes himself up from the floor. “Hi, sorry, I didn’t know if I was allowed to come in or not so I figured waiting out here was the best option. Is that weird. It’s probably weird,” Donghyuck rambles and Chenle can’t help but giggle at his friends weirdly out of character nervousness. He reaches out to grab Donghyuck’s hand and tangles their fingers together, effectively stopping Donghyuck from puking out any more words.

“If we’re doing apologies I owe you a massive one. I’ve been rubbing my scent over you all these years and I didn’t even think about the implications, so yeah, sorry I guess.” Chenle knows that he’s blushing, he can feel how warm his face is but the matching rosiness on Donghyuck’s cheeks makes it okay.

“I don’t mind, I mean you know I can’t even smell it with my boring old human nose so does it even really matter?”

And just like that they’re back to normal. Chenle reaches out with his free hand to boop Donghyuck’s nose and the elder ducks out of his reach, pulling free from Chenle’s grip to run away down the corridor. They end up being half an hour late to fourth period Geography but Chenle successfully managed to boop Donghyuck’s nose so really it’s worth it.

-

“Y’know when in high school Jaemin pointed out that you were scenting me? Was it because of the massive gay crush you were harbouring for me?”

It’s nearly 2am when Donghyuck decides to ask and Chenle doesn’t hesitate to pull the pillow out from underneath his boyfriend’s head so that he can smack it across his face. Donghyuck just laughs, carefree and bubbly as he rolls over so that he’s lying on top of Chenle before wrestling the pillow out of his grip. He’s holding it up above his head, ready to reign down hell onto his boyfriend when Chenle’s tail slips underneath the back of his t-shirt and tickles at the sensitive skin by his waist, reducing him to a mess of choked off giggles in mere seconds.

“Hey, if you wanna talk about ‘massive gay crushes’ how about we talk about how smitten you were with me since day one. What was it like discovering you had a thing for cat boys at the precious age of 8?” Chenle asks, smirking as Donghyuck chokes on his spit mid laugh and ends up falling off the bed and onto their fortunately carpeted floor. He rolls over, spreading himself out like a starfish as he slowly comes down from his fit of giggles and smiles up at Chenle.

“God I love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> i love lee donghyuck and zhong chenle with all my heart i hope they're resting and eating well
> 
> twt me @dcnghyucks


End file.
